Alabama’s playoff chances strengthened a bit this week even if its ranking didn’t change. The Crimson Tide remained at No. 5 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night following its 66-3 victory over Western Carolina.

Ohio State jumped LSU for the top spot while Clemson and Georgia rounded out the top four. Following Alabama are No. 6 Utah, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Minnesota and No. 9 Baylor who all have one loss.

Alabama received some help last week as previously No. 6 ranked Oregon was upset by unranked Arizona State. The Ducks fell eight spots to No. 14 in the latest rankings. Now the Crimson Tide will look to root on Oregon as it is set to face Utah next week in the Pac 12 Championship Game.

This week Utah will face unranked Colorado while Oklahoma plays No. 21 Oklahoma State, Minnesota plays No. 12 Wisconsin and Baylor takes on unranked Kansas. If Minnesota wins it will play Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game next week. Oklahoma and Baylor are set to meet in the Big 12 Championship Game next week regardless of how this week's games play out.

Alabama will not have the luxury of playing in a conference championship game this year and will instead have one final opportunity to impress the committee as it travels to No. 15 Auburn this week for the Iron Bowl. A big win for the Crimson Tide might be enough to prove that it is unequivocally one of the top four teams and the nation and see it hold off a potential one-loss conference champion.

Committee chairman Rob Mullens was asked to define the committee's definition of "unequivocally better" during ESPN's live broadcast of the rankings reveal.

"We'll have to get to that point when we get to the end," Mullens said. "We've got two weeks left, and as you mentioned the conference championship data point gets added at the end. Unequivocally is really clear and convincing in the mind of each committee member."

During a conference call later Tuesday night, Mullens was asked how big the gap was between Alabama and the teams directly behind it in the rankings. Mullens dodged the question, stating the committee spent considerable time talking about teams four through 9 but that there is "not a metric for closeness."

"Alabama has been dominant with the exception of a loss to LSU. We're aware of the injuries as I've mentioned," he said. "Utah... only loss is on the road to a ranked opponent (USC) when their running back missed the majority of the game."

Assuming Alabama continues to hold off the teams behind it, the Crimson Tide would likely advance to its sixth straight College Football Playoff if LSU beats Georgia in the SEC Championship next week.

1. Ohio State, 11-0

2. LSU, 11-0

3. Clemson, 11-0

4. Georgia, 10-1

5. Alabama, 10-1

6. Utah, 10-1

7. Oklahoma, 10-1

8. Minnesota, 10-1

9. Baylor, 10-1

10. Penn State, 9-2

11. Florida, 9-2

12. Wisconsin, 9-2

13. Michigan, 9-2

14. Oregon, 9-2

15. Auburn, 8-3

16. Notre Dame, 8-3

17. Iowa, 8-3

18. Memphis, 10-1

19. Cincinnati, 10-1

20. Boise State, 10-1

21. Oklahoma State, 8-3

22. USC, 8-4

23. Iowa State, 7-4

24. Virginia Tech, 8-3

25. Appalachian State, 10-1

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